CFP rating aggravation is becoming as American as apple pie. But nobody’s more incensed than Lane Kiffin.
Ole Miss’ head coach tore into the CFP selection committee on Wednesday morning after the penultimate rankings revealed his 9-3 Rebels got here in at No. 13 — one spot shy of the top-12 and sure on the outside-looking-in when the inaugural expanded 12-team playoffs kick off in two weeks.
“You guys actually meet for days and give you these rankings??” Kiffin wrote on X. “Do you really watch the standard of players, teams, and road environments (we played in considered one of yours this 12 months) or simply attempt to make the ACC feel relevant?? [By the way], considered one of your teams paid us to not play again next 12 months.”
That team can be Wake Forest for a reported sum of $750,000.
After Ole Miss squashed Wake Forest 40-6 in Winston-Salem in mid-September, Demon Deacons brass made the “business decision” to purchase their way out of the 2025 iteration of the home-and-home series, which might have taken place at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss.
Kiffin’s question-mark-riddled-rant continued, his focus shifting to a different ACC team, the Miami Hurricanes, who got here in a single spot ahead of his Rebels in the newest rankings.
“Same #12 spot you guys had Clemson ranked [as] last week. How did that go against the SEC??? Rewatch [Georgia versus] Clemson closely when you desire a reminder of the 2 conferences.”
(For others who need a reminder: the Bulldogs throttled the Tigers 34-3 in Week 1 of the 2024 season.)
Despite his ethos- pathos- logos-laden appeal, Kiffin’s Rebels are likely done for the season.
Only championship games remain before the choice committee draws up the playoff bracket, and since the Rebels missed out on the SEC title game, it’s hard to see how they’d move up the ladder in the subsequent seven days.
Kiffin can take solace within the indisputable fact that neither the 4-8 Demon Deacons nor the 10-2 Hurricanes will likely make the playoffs either.
Despite Miami’s top-12 rating, due to the best way the playoffs are formatted — the five highest-ranked conference champions receive automatic qualifications — No. 15 Arizona State or No. 16 Iowa State will claim the ultimate playoff berth by virtue of winning the Big 12.
If the Rebels had managed to beat Florida or LSU or Kentucky — the identical Wildcats who lost eight times in 2024 and finished 1-7 in conference play — Kiffin wouldn’t be cursing the high heavens in the primary place.
But, in fact, every team can play that game. Miami’s athletic director Dan Radakovich hasn’t shied away from making his thoughts known, but had Miami taken care of business at Syracuse on Saturday, the AD would still be lifting the U.
Within the words of ACC conference commissioner Jim Phillips, “As we stay up for the ultimate rankings, we hope the Committee will reconsider and put a deserving [insert your preferred team here] in the sphere.”
Just don’t hold your breath.
CFP rating aggravation is becoming as American as apple pie. But nobody’s more incensed than Lane Kiffin.
Ole Miss’ head coach tore into the CFP selection committee on Wednesday morning after the penultimate rankings revealed his 9-3 Rebels got here in at No. 13 — one spot shy of the top-12 and sure on the outside-looking-in when the inaugural expanded 12-team playoffs kick off in two weeks.
“You guys actually meet for days and give you these rankings??” Kiffin wrote on X. “Do you really watch the standard of players, teams, and road environments (we played in considered one of yours this 12 months) or simply attempt to make the ACC feel relevant?? [By the way], considered one of your teams paid us to not play again next 12 months.”
That team can be Wake Forest for a reported sum of $750,000.
After Ole Miss squashed Wake Forest 40-6 in Winston-Salem in mid-September, Demon Deacons brass made the “business decision” to purchase their way out of the 2025 iteration of the home-and-home series, which might have taken place at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss.
Kiffin’s question-mark-riddled-rant continued, his focus shifting to a different ACC team, the Miami Hurricanes, who got here in a single spot ahead of his Rebels in the newest rankings.
“Same #12 spot you guys had Clemson ranked [as] last week. How did that go against the SEC??? Rewatch [Georgia versus] Clemson closely when you desire a reminder of the 2 conferences.”
(For others who need a reminder: the Bulldogs throttled the Tigers 34-3 in Week 1 of the 2024 season.)
Despite his ethos- pathos- logos-laden appeal, Kiffin’s Rebels are likely done for the season.
Only championship games remain before the choice committee draws up the playoff bracket, and since the Rebels missed out on the SEC title game, it’s hard to see how they’d move up the ladder in the subsequent seven days.
Kiffin can take solace within the indisputable fact that neither the 4-8 Demon Deacons nor the 10-2 Hurricanes will likely make the playoffs either.
Despite Miami’s top-12 rating, due to the best way the playoffs are formatted — the five highest-ranked conference champions receive automatic qualifications — No. 15 Arizona State or No. 16 Iowa State will claim the ultimate playoff berth by virtue of winning the Big 12.
If the Rebels had managed to beat Florida or LSU or Kentucky — the identical Wildcats who lost eight times in 2024 and finished 1-7 in conference play — Kiffin wouldn’t be cursing the high heavens in the primary place.
But, in fact, every team can play that game. Miami’s athletic director Dan Radakovich hasn’t shied away from making his thoughts known, but had Miami taken care of business at Syracuse on Saturday, the AD would still be lifting the U.
Within the words of ACC conference commissioner Jim Phillips, “As we stay up for the ultimate rankings, we hope the Committee will reconsider and put a deserving [insert your preferred team here] in the sphere.”
Just don’t hold your breath.
